Now that I'm (semi) retired, I have more time for pleasure reading, and in recent months, I took great pleasure in reading two books by Jeffrey Toobin, a lawyer and CNN commentator.

The first recommended book is "The Run of his Life: The People vs. O. J. Simpson." I vividly remember the day the verdict was announced in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial in the office where I worked: the blacks were jubilant and the whites were appalled. Since that day, I have wondered how, in the face of overwhelming evidence of guilt, Simpson could have been acquitted. Toobin's book answers that question in masterful fashion. In a detailed--but endlessly fascinating--account of the investigation and the trial, this book explains how a trial about a double murder was converted to a vehicle to "send a message" about the treatment of African Americans by the LAPD, and by American society in general. The cast of characters is better than most novels. This book is especially interesting to lawyers, but you don't have to be a lawyer to enjoy it. A great read.

The next book, "American Heiress," turns the clock back another 20 years to 1974. The kidnapping of Patty Hearst was one of the most sensational episodes of the 1970’s. Those of us who lived in that era may have forgotten some of the details, but we do recall the kidnapping by a curiously named group, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and the subsequent bizarre turn of events, when this member of one of America’s most famous families later appeared as “Tania”, wearing a black beret and armed with a machine gun, participating in this radical group’s bank robbery. Toobin recounts this entire episode with all its strange twists and turns. The central issue, of course, is the question of whether Patty Hearst became a willing participant in the SLA’s crime spree, or whether, as she and her lawyers asserted at her trial (and she continues to insist), she had been “brainwashed” by her captors. This book leaves little doubt that she was a willing and, indeed, enthusiastic participant in her kidnappers’ activities. This is also a great read; highly recommended.

Henry congrats on your retirement! On Toobin I see so much of him because I`ve been watching so much CNN-apparently so hs trump! Speaking of CNN I`ve been dvring and watching their series on the nineties-love the footage and these events you mention from the book are covered. Len